Where I become Possessed and Almost Lose My Home

Now comes the worst part………..When I last left you, things were looking up after our first session with Jerry-the-trainer. That following week, though, things went from bad to worse and I was a very bad boy. The only thing I can figure is that I must have been possessed by Eilwen, a demon German Shepherd puppy. (If you listen to his name backwards, it sounds like Newlie.) My head didn’t spin around or anything like you see in the movies and my eyes didn’t turn red, but all the other signs point to it. I wouldn’t listen, I growled at Mom and Dad a couple of times and I chewed on Dad’s big toe. I would block his way every time he tried to walk down the hall and the more he yelled at me to move out of the way, the more I barked. I got in arguments with the dogs on either side of me and took bites out of Mom’s pillows and her mattress and I chewed up her laundry basket.

Finally, Mom started crying one day and left a message for Jerry-the trainer to call her. Then, she talked to my doctor and said that she was at her wit’s end, that she couldn’t have me acting up and scaring Dad with him being sick and all. She wrote on the computer to the rescue people and said that she might not be able to keep me and they said they would take me back if that’s what she and Dad wanted. And all this time, she was crying and crying. When Jerry-the trainer called back, Mom told him everything and said she was heartbroken, but she didn’t see what else she could do. Jerry said for her to bring me over to his house the next day. He said he would step up our training and that he thought he could fix things so she didn’t have to lose me.

The next training class was rough. Jerry had Mom put me in a “sit” and then I had to stay in that position for about 32 days. Whenever I broke the “stay,” the bug would bite my neck, Mom would take me back to the same spot and make me sit again and Jerry would tell her not to be nice about it either. Then we did the same thing with “down-stay.” After that, we did some more walking on the leash and more agility. I tell you, I was one tired puppy when we left Jerry’s house that night. It is very hard for dogs to learn to be still and to do what someone else tells them regardless of what they want to do and that’s especially true if they are possessed! This training class went a long way toward driving Eilwen out of me and looking back, I am glad no one tried to use a stake or a silver bullet.
                                                               

Me staying for 32 days

Mom had also been reading a German Shepherd Forum site on the computer. It talked about a training program called “Nothing in Life is Free.” and it really is pretty simple. In a nutshell, the dog has to do something to get anything. Mom had always made me Sit and wait till she said OK before I could eat. Now, I had to sit and wait before each handful of dog food. If I wanted to go outside, I had to sit and wait. If I wanted a cookie, I had to sit and wait. In fact, I did so much sitting while this was going on, I almost got a blister on my bee-hind.

Mom stopped playing with me in the house, too, for a while because it got me too excited. She thought I needed to learn that jumping and running and roughhousing were for outside and inside was for quieter things, like chewing on my ball or chewing on my ball. (That is about the only thing I really like to do that doesn’t involve running, jumping and roughhousing.) We did graduate along the way where now I can play games in the house like Find where Mom hides my ball and I have to find it. Or she will put four or five toys in the floor and say a word and I have to go and get the toy she named. I think this is a sucky game but she likes it.

Anyways, we went to Jerry’s house more times after this and we learned more things. I am a different dog now and Mom is different, too. She has learned how to make her voice deep and loud when I am not listening enough to her. She will sometimes come and stand over me and try to make her shoulders big so that I get the point that she is the boss. She will also make the bug bite my neck and if that doesn’t work, will swat at me if I am really, really bad. Despite the fact I am stronger than her and could do terrible damage with my fangs, Mom is not afraid of me any more than most moms are afraid of their children. She rules by the force of love, not muscle.